DATE: September 13, 2021

TO: Mr. Joe Welch, MPC Chairman

FROM: MPC Staff

SUBJECT: MPC Management: Formal MPC Staff Complaint

After a great deal of deliberation around both the pros and cons of taking this
next step, MPC Staff has decided to move forward and is providing you with
this formal letter of grievance. The Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC),
under its current leadership, has failed to promote a positive and friendly work
environment, and instead the staff find themselves in a truly hostile, tense
work environment.

In so doing, we are asking that the MPC Personnel Committee protect in

confidence any and all of the information being provided herewithin. We trust
therefore, that the MPC Personnel Committee and/or the MPC Board will take
the immediate reasonable and practicable steps needed to remedy the
following concerns.

Ms. Wilson’s leadership and management style is critically flawed and the
Agency’s work environment is overwhelmingly toxic. Please consider the
following items:
○ In the past three (3) years the MPC has lost 27 employees under Ms.
Wilson’s leadership;
○ The MPC Staff morale is extremely low and Staff do not feel valued or
motivated;
○ Currently, some departments within the Agency are significantly short
staffed;
○ Staff is not able to speak openly on issues that may not align with the
Director’s without concerns of retaliation or bullying;
 ○ Because of high turnover staff works longer hours in an attempt to
keep up with the work, always feeling left with a sense of “playing
catchup”;
○ Missed opportunities to promote staff from entry level positions which
could have helped with staffing shortages;
○ Promises of promotion and pay raises with no follow-through;
○ Management does not value and reward employee contributions;
○ Staff does not trust its Executive leadership;
○ There is very little communication from the Executive team within the
Organization, both written or verbal. Staff is consistently unaware of
changes happening in the office (ex. Office policy changes, new
employees hired, employees resigned, etc.). In the past three years
under Ms. Wilson’s direction, there have been a total of 2 staff
meetings;
○ When given, Staff feels that both verbal and written communication
from the Executive team can be intimidating and critical;
○ The delivery of instructions from leadership is not clear or concise in its
delivery so that Staff can complete tasks in a timely manner;
○ Staff is not given adequate guidance on projects, however, when the
work is presented, Ms. Wilson subsequently disparages the work;
○ Although Management is aware of the Staff’s multiple deadlines to
meet the Agency's needs, review and prioritization by the Executive
team is not done in a timely manner and therefore leads to a plethora
of last minute changes and extra tasks to meet critical deadlines;
○ Trivializing and criticizing staff members’ thoughts, ideas, and approaches
to the point Staff no longer offers comments.

It must be pointed out that Ms. Wilson was consistently not in the office before
Ms. Everett was hired as the Assistant Director. Since Ms. Everett has come on
board, although not qualified or educated in planning, she has been forced to
assume an overwhelming majority of the duties required to run the MPC. Ms.
Wilson, however, still does not routinely come into the office before 10:00 a.m. on
the days she is in, and has consistently taken back-to-back vacations for 2+
weeks at a time, again, leaving Ms. Everett in charge. Please note, that at no
point since taking on the Executive Director role has Ms. Wilson notified the
general Staff of when she would be away from the office or on vacation. This
often causes a lag time in reviewing staff reports, cases, follow-up emails, etc.
and looks poorly on the Agency.

2
While this letter may not reflect the opinion of 100% of the MPC’s current and
previous staff members that have worked under Ms. Wilson, we feel certain that
a true majority of the staff will agree with what is reflected above. We also believe
that the information detailed here is the same information that was revealed
during your conversations with the staff that you spoke with in the office on
August 16, 2021. The Staff also suggests that you contact several of Ms.
Wilson’s previous staff directly, both in Savannah and Augusta, to confirm what is
being presented to you here.

Again, we as a group, do not take coming forward with a formal complaint lightly.
We come to you in the hopes that the MPC Board will take our comments
seriously and look into these matters promptly and provide mitigation to the
issues at hand.

cc: Mr. Lee Smith, Chatham County Manager